Stay The Night? An Ashes To Ashes Fic
by Wanna Be Abby
Summary: It's been a long arduous day out on the streets, and just when all Alex wants is a quiet night in with a bottle of wine, there's a knock at the door...


A Fic inspired by the teaser for Ep3 of Ashes To Ashes, and the Ghosts' song 'Stay The Night' which I have rediscovered and can't stop listening to! My first attempt at a fic inspired by this incarnation of the Gene Genie, but one I hope that he'd approve of. Beta'd by KYD - many thanks mon brave.

**Stay The Night?**

'Take a chance and stay the night, tra-la-la-la, er, laaaaa!' Alex sang off key as she pulled open her fridge and pulled out a chilled bottle of white wine.

Shutting the door with her right foot, she stretched across her monochrome kitchen to extract the corkscrew from the drawer.

'Right, Alexandria Drake,' she told herself, 'you bloody deserve this after today.'

And so saying, she put the bottle down on the draining board and stuck the business end of the implement into the cork.

'God help us,' she sighed, 'bring on the invention of the decent bottle of wine with a screw cap eh?'

As she battled with the small piece of porous wood that stood between her and a decent drink, the song she had got stuck in her head came to the fore again.'

'It's four o'clock in the morning, I can't take another second of this excuse for taste, take a chance, stay the night, why don't we take a taxi back to mine, I'm sure that we'll find a way to pass the time… O bugger!!' she cursed loudly and soundly as half the cork came away - leaving the other half safely intact in the neck of the bottle.

Alex slammed the corkscrew, replete with broken cork, onto the worktop.

She stared long and hard, trying hard to convince herself a cup of tea or coffee would do instead.

She put the kettle on and put a tea bag in a overly cheerful Royal Wedding mug next to it.

Right about now, well, at home, back in 2008, she would have plugged the headphones into her mp3 player and danced around her all mod cons kitchen singing and embarrassing the hell out of Molly.

But here, all she had was four terrestrial channels, and Radio One who wouldn't play anything but New Romantic anthems.

And she'd missed 'Top Of The Pops' last night.

'I want my iPod!' she wailed, her eyes closed as she raised her face to the ceiling.

The kettle boiled, and switched itself off.

Alex dropped her chin onto her chest.

Fate had decided. Tea it was. Alcohol was obviously going to be denied to her and she was destined to drink from the cup that cheers but does not inebriate, as her head teacher used to say.

She poured the boiled water into the mug, and pushed the bag around in a half hearted manner.

The wine sat, safely and with a slightly smug air surrounding it, on the draining board.

Alex pulled a face at the condensation as it ran onto the metal surface, added milk to her tea and went to sit down on the sofa.

Just as her buttocks were about to hit the plush material, the door bell went and a loud insistent knock followed it.

'Oi! Bolly-Knickers! Open up!' a male voice demanded.

'Oh god, why? Why unconscious mind? Do I not have enough to deal with without having him turn up after a crap day?' Alex muttered.

'Either you open this door or I kick it down!'

'Coming! Coming!'

Alex wearily stood up and padded over to the door, stepping over her red high heels.

She opened the door, and found Gene leaning up against the door frame in the tiny hall outside her flat.

'Evening Bolly!' he said and walked past her into the living room.

Alex rolled her eyes, 'No, please do come in!' she said, her voice laced heavily with sarcastic overtones.

She shut the door and turned back into the living room, but he wasn't there.

There was a rattling sound from the kitchen.

'Where do you keep your plates?' a muffled voice asked.

Alex was furious! She marched straight into the compact kitchen and found Gene practically immersed in her cupboards.

Simmering, but fast headed for the boiling point of no return, she grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and hauled him out, dragging him backwards into the living room.

He struggled, but Alex hadn't passed her self defence course with honours for nothing, and she dumped him on the sofa like a overstuffed bag of potatoes.

'How dare you!' she was practically shouting at him.

'And how dare you?!' he roared, standing up and looking back at her.

'I think you'll find this is my flat - and an invitation is usually required to enter my personal space before you march all over my sub-conscious! ' she told him furiously.

'Don't you ever do that again Bolly or you'll regret it!'

'You and whose so-called army, you fictional figure of authority!!'

A loud thumping came from the ceiling and they both looked up.Alex stepped back, and took a deep breath. She stared furiously at Gene, and her fists were clenched so tightly she could feel her nails digging into the palms of her hands.

Gene broke the eye contact first and stepped back.

'Right,' he said and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Alex raised a eye brow at him. Damn it, she told herself, she was not going to say a word till he'd explained himself!

'Can I come in then?'

'I don't know!'

'Shall I start again?' Gene ran a hand through his hair and Alex suddenly realised he was showing all the classic signs of a man caught on the wrong footing.

She relaxed her fists and nodded.

'Good evening.' she said.

'Evening.'

A silence stretched across the living room.

'Can I help you?' she asked.

'Er, you hungry?'

'I am not cooking you dinner!'

'I'm not asking you to!' Gene threw out his arm in the direction of the kitchen, 'Bloody hell Bolly! If you shut your trap for ten seconds you might hear me out!'

'Why? Bought me chips and mushy peas?' Alex laid the sarcasm on again, she couldn't seem to help herself.

'No! I thought you might like to try some o' Luigi's cooking for once instead of just drinking him dry! That's why I was looking for your plates!'

'Oh!' Carpet now completely pulled out from under her feet, Alex opened and shut her mouth several times, but nothing came out.

'However if you're going to stand there doing a damn good impression of a posh goldfish, I'll just eat both portions by meself, and chuck you a crust later!'

And so saying, Gene marched back in the kitchen, loosening his tie as he did so.

Alex recovered herself and followed him.

Sitting on the work surface was a bag, from which promising fragrant smells hinting at cream and garlic arose. Her stomach growled in protest at such offerings.

'Thank god for that!' Gene told her, staring at her midriff, 'can't stand to see a skinny bird not appreciate a good meal!'

'Oh, charming!' Alex told him and reached up to the wall units to pull out two dinner plates.

'Cutlery in the drawer to the right of the sink,' she said.

'Eh?'

'And I'll get the glasses.'

Alex left the plates on the side while she took two wine glasses to her small dining table. She laid placemats for two, and went back to the kitchen. Gene hadn't moved.

'I was expecting you to dish up?' she told him.

'Eh?'

'You seem to have a very limited vocabulary this evening,' she told him, and flapped her hand to move him aside.

'I bought it - I leave the rest of the culinary doings to you!' he told her, then looked around.

Alex removed three foil containers from a brown paper bag, and peeled the cardboard tops off. Steam rose and so did the smell.

'Hmmmmm - gorgeous!' she murmured, closing her eyes as the steam wafted promises of rich Italian food to her.

Behind her, Gene grinned widely, 'Thanks Bolly, you're not too bad yourself!' and so saying he slapped her on the bottom.

Alex spun round, hand raised, but he was out of reach. Giving him her best deadly look, she commanded, 'I suggest you open the bottle of wine on the side before I end up wasting this meal by throwing at you!'

Gene reached for the bottle and discarded corkscrew.

'You made a cock up of this didn't you?'

'For once, Gene, make yourself useful?'

Alex heard him make a dismissive noise through his nose and leave the kitchen. Quickly she poured pasta and carbonara sauce onto separate plates and took them through.

Her glass was full, and she gratefully sank half of it before she had time to think again.

'God help us! I hope you've got more than one bottle in if you're drinking like that already!' Gene was taken aback by her enthusiastic drinking technique.

'You're only worried you won't be able to keep up with me!' she retorted and sailed back into the kitchen, only to return with several slices of garlic bread on another plate.

She sat down, one leg tucked under her on the chair seat, swinging the other one under the table. As she did so, she caught Gene's leg.

'Sorry! Too used to sitting by myself.' she apologised.

'Oh shut up and eat.' he told her, so she did.

Half way through the plate she paused for another top up of wine.

'I wonder if these calories do count?'

'What?' Gene's voice was muffled through the pasta and rich sauce.

'Well, I'd normally be looking at at least two spinning classes to justify this sort of carbohydrate intake you know…' she told him, 'and as for the garlic bread!'

'What about it? Don't you like this sort of thing?'

'I do! I adore it! Just as well we're not on a date though! Injudicious intake of garlic and there goes your snog!' she giggled, reaching for the wine bottle again.

Unsurprisingly, it was empty.

'Oh - have we drunk that much?' she asked.

'I haven't - yet.' Gene told her, 'Any more in the place?'

'One more white I think…' Alex leapt up and went to the kitchen, returning a few seconds later bearing the promised bottle.

She leant across the table and proffered it along with the corkscrew.

'The honours are yours I think?' she teased and sat down again.

The meal wore on, and if Alex drank maybe a little more wine than she thought advisable, it was only because she felt so completely relaxed.

Gene kept paced with her, glass for glass, determined that he should be the one remaining to stand at the end of the evening.

Outside, the summer sky darkened into night, and the temperature dropped. The plates long emptied, they got up, clutching wine glasses, Gene carrying the fourth bottle - red now, the white only a pleasant memory - as they sat down heavily on the sofa.

Alex was giggling and wrinkling her nose as she did so.

'I can't believe you've never been to the Blitz!' she telling him, 'I had such a great time! Well, other than when the scary clown appeared on stage and I suddenly realised who our bomber was. It was such fun! I danced and sang, even to the stuff I didn't know!'

'Not really my scene.' Gene told her.

Alex curled her feet up under her, and moved a bit closer to him on the sofa.

'I'll take you! Chris was there with Shaz, and they were so into the New Romantic scene. Very sweet! That Shaz, she's a dark horse! She's going to make a very good CID officer, I can tell you that.'

'Our Essex girl?! Get out! She's happy with her typing and filing - she don't want any more.'

Alex was appalled and, slurring slightly, told him 'I can't believe you said that! Women will soon over take you men in rank all over the profession! And they'll do a blood, bludd, damn good job too!'

She pulled back but her balance was shaken by the alcohol in her system and she toppled towards the floor.

'Ouch!' she landed with a thump, but to her pleasure she noticed she hadn't lost a drop from her glass.

Gene looked at her and grinned widely at her - Alex was sprawled, in a less than lady like fashion on her carpet.

'Are you going to sit there or are you going to help me up?' she demanded, plonking her glass on the low table next to her, and tugging her skirt to a more decent length.

'I was just admiring the view!' Gene replied, winking heavily and raising his glass to her, 'Nice landing!'

'That's it! ' Alex braced her arms against the sofa seat and hauled herself back onto the cushions, only to find her drink was just out of reach.

'Bugger,'she swore and looked Gene straight, or at least as straight as she could, in the eye.

'What?'

'Gimme your drink,' she said and held out her hand for his glass.

'You are joking?'

'No! You should have helped me up - so you forfeit your drink!' she told him and leaned forward to take the glass from his hand.

Gene held his glass just out of reach, and Alex had to stretch over him, but to no avail.

She was concentrating so much on the wine in the glass that she failed to notice how close she was to him, until she felt a breath on her neck.

Alex looked right and found herself eye to eye with Gene, and she suddenly felt awkward.

Something told her she had to pull back, but to keep it casual, to move slowly and be nonchalant.

But she just couldn't move.

'What the bloody hell are you doing?' she asked her addled mine, 'What are you playing at?!'

Gene moved his body slowly on the sofa, and in doing so bought the wine back within Alex's reach.

But she didn't move, and she slowly withdrew her left arm back to her side, her fingers held awkwardly.

She was so close, he could feel every breath on his face, smell the subtle perfume she used and watch her pupils dilate.

The two sat, eye to eye and the only sound was the thumping of their heartbeats in their ears.

It was Alex who moved back, but too quickly, and her balance made her wobble, so she nearly fell off the sofa again.

Instinctively, without thinking, Gene grabbed her waist to save her from falling onto the carpet again.

This unexpected move caught Alex off guard and she grabbed at his arm to try and remain vaguely up right.

Both these movements, instinctively made, took them both my surprise and with the unexpected tension already built between them, neither was prepared for what happened next.

Gene did stop Alex falling but his arm ended up almost totally round her waist and he leant forward more than he had anticipated.

Alex, unencumbered by a wine glass, reached forward and found herself with her arms around Gene's neck.

'Steady Bolly,' he told her softly, 'you'll have us both on the floor…'

Once again eye to eye, Alex couldn't tear herself away. And if she were honest, it had been a while since she'd been this physically close with a man. Too long? Her mind suggested. Shut up! She told that part of herself.

'Careful with that glass,' she replied, 'red's a right bastard to get out of the carpet…'

Gene put the glass down beside the sofa, and Alex released her hands from around his neck.

'I think I'd better be going…' Gene said, standing up carefully.

'Well, if you're sure…'Alex replied, looking up at him.

'Thanks for the drink, Bolly.'

'Thank you for dinner.'

'Even the garlic bread?' he smiled, and Alex could have sworn it was almost shyly said. Don't be stupid! She told herself, the last thing Gene Hunt could be described as is shy!

She smiled back, unable to help herself, 'Yes, even the garlic bread. Even if I do have the breath of a gorgon, I'd almost forgotten how much I like it.'

Gene shrugged on his suit jacket and started rummaging around in the pockets.

'Keys, keys, keys….'

'Not car keys?!' Alex was appalled. The last few minutes has sobered her up a little, and she couldn't believe he was going to risk driving whilst drunk!

'How else am I going to get home?' he inquired.

'Taxi?'

'Spent all the money I had on me on dinner.'

'Oh. Well, I can't drive you - I've had as much wine as you!'

'I wouldn't let you sit in the driver's seat, let alone fire up the engine!'

'Then we rather have a quandary on our hands, don't we?'

'Eh? Listen, don't talk posh with me Bolly, it don't cut no ice!'

Alex crossed her arms and sat down again. Gene sat beside her. They both stared at the silent television.

'The problem, Gene, is this,' she told him, 'It's 2am. You can't drive, because you're drunk. I can't drive because I'm drunk..'

'And even if you weren't, I wouldn't give you the car keys!'

'And even if I wasn't you wouldn't give me the car keys,' she repeated, 'Just shut up for a minute! You've no money for a taxi, and, oh!'

'What?!

'I could lend you some money for a taxi!'

'Not havin' that! Not having some bird pay for me ride home!'

'Oh don't play up to your stereotype!'

'I'm nowhere near your record player!'

'However, I don't know any taxi firms to call, and not at this time of night. Luigi might help us…'

'But he went home hours ago.'

'And the night bus is yet to be introduced…'

'So, c'mon then Sherlock - what's your deduction?'

Alex hesitated. The song that had been rolling around her head for the best part of a week had been prophetic.

'You'll have to stay here.'

'Well, don't nick all the bedcovers, alright?'

Alex spun round to him, 'You will be sleeping on the sofa! You must think I've the morals of an alley cat!'

And so saying she stood up and went to get some bedding for her errant colleague.

When she returned to the living room, however, she found that half the sheets in her arms were unnecessary.

Gene had taken off his suit jacket, tie, socks and hideous crocodile boots and was stretched out on the sofa. Fast asleep.

Alex stood and watched him. He looked so peaceful, and relaxed. He also looked younger when he was asleep she thought.

She shook herself out of her reverie and, taking one of the light blankets around him, she switched off the lights in the room. Passing the sofa again on her own way to bed, Gene's hand shot out and grabbed hers.

'I thought you were asleep!' she whispered.

'Not yet,' he replied, 'Thanks Bolly.'

'You're quite welcome,' she told him, 'Now get some sleep, see you in the morning.' and she released his hand and walked to the door.

'What? No good night kiss?' rumbled from the supine form on her sofa.

Alex rolled her eyes and went to bed herself, though it took a little longer for her to stop blushing at the thoughts running through her mind.

As she closed her eyes, the last thing she thought of was the song that had been plaguing her:

'I think of you and my heart beats a little louder, stay the night…'


End file.
